Ellie Pamatat isn’t your typical freshman. It’s common for first-year players to spend a lot of time on the bench or in a limited role while they learn the system and build chemistry with their teammates or gain the trust of the coaching staff. However, Pamatat has already become a major contributor to the Hofstra University volleyball team with a 7-1 Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) record. Her work as a has helped propel the team to seven straight victories and a tie for first place in the conference.

“She’s such a consistent human,” said Hofstra head coach Emily Mansur. “She’s not a very emotional person – which actually helps a lot in the position she plays. She’s a very good volleyball player, but I think with her just being such a constant and controlled human helps a lot, not letting the freshman emotions take over.”

Although Pamatat missed the first three games of the season with an injury, you wouldn’t be able to tell. She’s seamlessly integrated into the team, looking more like a four-year veteran than someone who’s only played about a dozen games so far. She credits her teammates for welcoming her in so quickly.

“It felt like I had all of them behind me when I needed them,” Pamatat said. “If I wasn’t doing well, they all had my back, they all covered me whenever I needed it; It was really cool to see.”

Pamatat played her debut game against Coastal Carolina University on Sept. 6, racking up 25 assists in a loss. She quickly improved, with her first win against The United States Military Academy West Point on Sept. 13, where she recorded a career-high 52 assists. The performance earned her CAA Rookie of the Week.

“[My teammates] are all very supportive,” Pamatat said. “They all congratulated me, they’re all very friendly; It was really nice,”

But that was just the beginning for Pamatat as she continued to raise her play through the early stages of the conference schedule. She has recorded at least 30 assists in her first five CAA matches, en route to a second Rookie of the Week honor.

“It’s more of a mindset of, let’s go and win no matter what it takes,” Pamatat said regarding CAA matches. ”Where in the preseason it’s more like, let’s grow as a team and see what comes out of that.”

That mindset has proved to be exactly what the Pride needed, especially after losing senior setter Beatriz Alves to injury after the third game in the season.

“It’s huge,” Mansur said. “We’re very thankful that [Pamatat] is such a controlled player. She came back from the injury that week after and was stepping on the court as our starting setter and doing a great job. She grew up for the last three years from 14 to 17 watching Alves play, and then she has to come in and fill in her spot because [Alves] was hurt, so we are very thankful to have a player like [Pamatat] on our roster to be able to step into such a tough situation.”

Pamatat, a Garden City native, is no stranger to Hofstra. Her family’s ties to coach Mansur and the rest of the coaching staff go back for years, so the opportunity to play in front of them has been a long time coming.

“It’s cool because last year, I was in the stands watching them, and now I get to play,” Pamatat said. “It’s fun to be at home … you feel like you have a lot of people supporting you; everyone’s behind you.”

Mansur has known the Pamatat family for years, and she knows just how important the short distance has been to help her settle in so quickly.

“Her parents and her sister are all very into volleyball,” Mansur said, “Her mom coaches volleyball, her dad plays volleyball, her sister plays volleyball, so I think for her, it’s pretty special. Her grandma comes to every game. She turned 18 and her parents bought food for the whole team, and they were here to give her a hug, so it’s priceless. She’s very lucky to have that, and it’s good for her to have that.”

Pamatat first met coach Mansur during her time at Club Ace Long Island (CALI) when Mansur was the club director. The relationship between the two has grown ever since, with Pamatat also playing under current Hofstra associate head coach Hava Davis and assistant coach Steve Klosterman in her time with the club.

“It was really cool to see a different side of [Mansur] too because I never got to have her as a coach, she was always just around,” Pamatat said, “I had [Klosterman] and [Davis] as my coaches so it was definitely cool to see her and get to know her as a coach more than as a club director.”

When it came time for Pamatat to make her college decision, her familiarity with the coaching staff made coming to Hofstra a no-brainer.

“It was very much what made me want to come here,” Pamatat said. “Knowing everyone, being close to home, even though I’m living here so it doesn’t feel like I’m as close to home as I actually am, so it was definitely cool.”

The feelings for Mansur were mutual, getting an up-close look at what Pamatat could be with the Pride.

“I think for her young age she was extremely athletic and she had beautiful hands,” Mansur said.  “But then what you guys see here is someone super hard-working. You don’t see too many players like her, she would run through a wall to play a ball, then get up and go again. She’s just really even-keeled and just works so hard. She’s the real definition of blue-collar and it’s amazing to see.”

Pamatat has only officially been on the team for a few months, but she’s already looking to be a leader on the court.

“I’m really looking forward to working on just being together as a team at certain points,” Pamatat said. “Like when we’re having a bad game or a bad couple of moments. Just coming together in those moments and coming through. Alves is a very good example of that. She’s always pushing, so filling in for her was definitely big shoes to fill in but it’s cool.”

“Being a setter, you have to command respect and give confidence to your hitters, and she’s just a natural at that,” Mansur said. “We have tried to give her a lot of space to not feel like she has to step into a leadership role because her position automatically demands that. She’s battling her injury, she’s not practicing every day because we can’t allow her to practice every day … She is a player that we have to fight with her that she can’t practice, and you don’t have too many of those. She’s just a natural leader.”

While Mansur says she doesn’t want to put the extra pressure of being a leader onto Pamatat, it’s clear to see that she is learning how to be one from two of the Pride’s biggest names. Her relationships with Alves and Clara Bal make that very clear, and Mansur has taken notice.

“Me and [Bal] are really close, we spend a lot of time together outside of the court,” Pamatat said. “It’s fun to see how supportive everyone is, especially [Alves], she really helped me throughout games. She would pull me to the side, tell me things if I wasn’t seeing them and it was really helpful.”

“I’ve absolutely seen their relationship grow,” Mansur said. “The way they play together is very good for someone that’s just starting; [Bal] having to roll from left to right and play different positions because we needed her to this year, you see the respect and you really don’t see the difference between being a junior to being a first-year player. They’re just playing together, and I think it’s perfect because [Bal] is so emotional and [Pamatat] is so not emotional that they balance each other.”

With Alves slowly ramping up her return to full-time playing status, Mansur believes this will only help the freshman.

“I think they’re going to be a great compliment to each other, our goal is to use both of them,” Mansur said. “[Alves] has been wonderful because she can’t play but she’s coaching [Pamatat] …  She comes in the middle of a game saying, ‘Can I talk to her?’ so we call a timeout and [Alves] is the one coaching her.”

It would be an understatement to say that Pamatat and Hofstra are a perfect match, and normally it would take time to see this level of cohesion and comfort, but Pamatat says the connection was instant.

“I think preseason when we were moving into the dorms … I think that’s when it set in,” Pamatat said. “Like I’m coming here, this is my new home, even though I’m not far from home and I can go home, this is where I’ll be the next four years.”

Photo courtesy of Amelia Bashy